On August 14-15, a workshop was organised in Tsaghkadzor by Europe in Law Association for the representatives of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of power within the project Support to the Armenian Authorities in the ICC Rome Statute Post-Ratification Processes, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia. The workshop brought together renowned international and national speakers, including Joanna Korner, Judge with the International Court, Eleni Chaitidou, Senior Legal Officer with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Dr. Gurgen Petrossian, lecturer with the Nuremberg University, and Arnold Vardanyan, practicing lawyer.
Lousineh Hakobyan, President of Europe in Law Association, Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the State and Law Standing Committee of the National Assembly, Lilit Tadevosyan, President of the Cassation Court, Armine Harutyunyan, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia and Thymen Kouwenaar, Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia delivered opening remarks and the purpose of the workshop.
Following this, the speakers of the workshop delievered thematic presentations on a number of ICC-related topics. Dr. Gurgen Petrossian made an introductory presentation entitled ‘From Nuremberg to The Hague: Istanbul and Leipzig trials, Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, ad hoc tribunals, hybrid courts, the system of the International Criminal Court, Armenian membership to the Court.’ The second presentation by Dr Petrossian touched upon the crimes of genocide and the crimes against humanity.
This was followed by the presentation of Eleni Chaitidou on the topic of International Criminal Court Proceedings before the Trial, including Preliminary examination, authorization proceedings, jurisdiction, admissibility, measures regarding preservation of evidence, victims’ participation.
Judge Joanna Korner discussed the procedural challenged during trial in her presentation, including in the preparation for the trial, trial hearing, witness examination (calling witnesses from abroad, video testimony), admission/submission of evidence, written prior statements in lieu of testimony, admission of guilt.
On the second day of the workshop, Arnold Vardanyan, candidate of legal sciences touched upon the topics of war crimes and the crime of aggression in his presentation entitled ‘International Crimes: Part II’ as well as the topic of effective implementation of the Rome Statute in Armenia.
Judge Joanna Korner discussed the issues related to cooperation with the International Criminal Court, as well as topics, such as judgment writing, support for victims and witnesses, mutual legal assistance, legal and judicial assistance, arrest and surrender, evidence and witnesses, implementation of arrest warrants. Finally, she touched upon the procedure of selection of the ICC judges, while Eleni Chaitidou spoke in more detail about the principle of complementarity, a key principle governing the work of the Court.
The project ‘Support to Armenian Authorities in the Rome Statute Post-Ratification Processes’ started in March 2024. The purpose of the project is to assist the Armenian Government in successful implementation of the Rome Statute, as well as in its dialogue with the ICC and related institutions. The project is implemented by the NGO Europe in Law Association with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia.
